Collegeville police officer delivers baby in bank parking lot

COLLEGEVILLE — As the end of a shift approaches, most are content to wile away their final minutes in cruise control, ready to put a hard day of work behind them.

Officer Matt Cubbler, of the Collegeville Police, didn’t have such a luxury Thursday morning as his shift ended with him helping deliver a baby in the front seat of a parked car.

“It’s not something I readily practice,” he said.

Cubbler said he was dispatched to the parking lot of the TD Bank on 2nd Avenue for a maternity call around 6 a.m. Trappe Ambulance had also been called, but Cubbler got there first.

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The woman was apparently trying to drive to the hospital with her two young children in the car and her mother-in-law following in a second car. At some point, she decided she couldn’t continue and parked.

The decision to deliver the baby in the car wasn’t one Cubbler was allowed to make.

“I didn’t make it, (the baby) made it for me,” Cubbler said. “I got there and she was already in major birthing mode.”

Quickly, Cubbler got the woman’s two other children safely out of the way into his police car, then returned to their mother in her car, who was with her mother-in-law. The pregnant woman’s seat was reclined back, and her feet were placed on the dashboard to make her more comfortable.

“I said, ‘Please, don’t push,’ but she said she had to,” Cubbler said. “I grabbed her hand and said, ‘Look at my face. This is not the face of the man that you want delivering your child.’”

Regardless of Cubbler’s attempted persuasion, the baby started to come.

“I’m more nervous about whether I’m going to mess up something medically with the baby,” Cubbler said. “The concern is you’re bringing a life into the world that isn’t breathing yet.”

Cubbler said he had actually been part of a delivery approximately 20 years ago, but he had help all the way through.

“It’s a lot easier when you’re the guy handing the stuff to the medic,” Cubbler said.

A father of two, Cubbler also said he wasn’t exactly an active member of the birth of his children, either.

“I made it a very big point not to be a part of the process of the birth,” he sad. “I’m more of a hand holder, back-rubber kind of guy.”

Thursday morning, Cubbler was very much a “part of the process.”

Cubbler aided the woman in delivering the baby boy’s head and shoulders before he heard the familiar and, in this case, welcome siren of an ambulance.

“It was very comforting to see the ambulance,” Cubbler said.

Cubbler and the woman were able to pause for a moment while medics rushed in to take over.

“Trappe Ambulance is one of the best in the area,” Cubbler said. “I was just there a couple minutes earlier.”

After Trappe Ambulance personnel finished the delivery, the baby and his mother were taken to Pottstown Memorial Medical Center.

Cubbler said he didn’t learn the weight, length or name for the baby boy from the ambulance personnel, just that both mother and son were doing well.

After such an eventful end to his Wednesday-Thursday shift, Cubbler was looking forward to a quiet one Thursday night.